Research Catalog

Title

The making of the pacemaker : celebrating a life-saving invention / Wilson Greatbatch ; foreword by Seymour Furman.

Author

Greatbatch, Wilson.

Publication

Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Furman, Seymour.

Description

260 p., [1] p. of plates ; ill. (some col.); 24 cm.

Summary

Wilson Greatbatch had a brilliant idea and the technical know-how to turn his idea into a practical device, for which millions of people today are grateful. This is the story of the first pacemaker by the man who invented it. In the 1950s, while experimenting with the newly invented transistor, Greatbatch discovered "by accident" the proper design for a blocking oscillator, which he knew would work as the basic component of the pacemaker. After years of patient refinement of the early prototypes, in 1960, human implantation proved to be successful, and the new device immediately gave many seriously ill patients a new lease on life. Reminiscent of Edison's many dogged attempts to find the right solution in pursuit of an ingenious idea, this is a human-interest story at its best.

Subject

• Greatbatch, Wilson, 1919-
• Greatbatch, Wilson, 1919-
• Cardiac pacemakers > History
• Pacemaker, Artificial > history

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Early people and early systems -- Pulse generator design -- Electrodes and leads -- Power sources -- Statistical evaluation of device reliability -- Sterilization -- Microcalorimetry -- Electronic control of growth -- Electronic control of infection -- Implantable drug infusion pumps -- But what of the future? -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Glossary.

ISBN

1573928062 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^00023296^

OCLC

43434542

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library